Common Name: WATERWORT FAMILY
Habit: Annual, short-lived perennial herb, in or near water; roots fibrous, from taproot or not, generally from lower leaf axils also. Stem: generally soft. Leaf: simple, opposite, +- 4-ranked; stipules scarious. Inflorescence: flowers in upper axils, 1 or few in clusters. Flower: small, inconspicuous, radial, bisexual; sepals, petals 2--5, equal in number, generally free; ovary spheric, styles 3--5, short. Fruit: capsule, septicidal, +- spheric, ovoid, or depressed-ovoid, walls thin; chambers 2--5, each several to many-seeded. Seed: small; surface net-like or glossy.
Genera In Family: 2 genera, 50 species: +- worldwide.
eFlora Treatment Author: Gordon C. Tucker & Evanielis U. Grissom
Scientific Editor: Thomas J. Rosatti.

Common Name: WATERWORT
Stem: Erect underwater, +- prostrate on wet ground, branched or not; base not woody. Leaf: petiole < 1/3 blade, flat, +- blade-like; blades narrow-elliptic to +- round, +- entire, bases wedge-shaped to +- round, tips round. Inflorescence: flowers 1(2) per node. Flower: sepals, petals wide-elliptic, membranous; sepals pale green; petals pale green-white; stamens (1) 3, 6, 8, filaments 1/2 × to +- equal petals, anthers wide-ovoid; styles 3--4. Fruit: +- spheric or depressed-ovoid; chambers 3--4, each 3--15-seeded; pedicel generally +- 0. Seed: +- visible through fruit wall, elliptic, straight or curved, brown to yellow-brown; surface net-like due to ridges between +- linear rows of pits.
Etymology: (Greek: fir tree, from a European species that suggests such a plant in miniature) Note: At least 20× magnification needed for pits on seeds.